I live in white world bubble. I live in a small rural town; I only know of two African American children that live in my small rural town. The only reason why they live in this small rural white community is because of adoption. I work in another small rural white community town and there are zero African American children attending that school. Nevertheless, just twenty minutes away from both small white community towns there is a diverse population. After reading the articles and watching the TED talk, I came to the conclusion that I purposely have created my own white world bubble. In this paper, I will be reflecting on Verna Myers TED talk on, “How to overcome our biases?” Through Verna’s video, I discovered why I have created this white …show more content…
Verna Myers’ TED talk left an impact in my life and will change my teaching practices. Verna talked about how many of us have stereotypes built in that we don’t even relialze how bias we are as a society. As a result, we need to be willing to change ourselves. Verna mainly focused on young black men; nevertheless, I believe I need to do this to all different races I interact with or purposely don’t interact with while being outside of my small rural white communities. Verna suggested three things to reform our images of young black men. The first thing I need to do it to get out of denial. I need to stop acting like I am a good person, but instead be a real person. I need to purposely retrain my brain by “staring at awesome black people.” To be honest, the only time in my classroom I would have a poster of a black person would be Martin Luther King. His poster would be hanging in my classroom for one month out of the year. I need to post pictures of other “awesome black people” in my classroom more frequently. Not only would it be benefitale to me, but it would benefit all my students in my classroom. So that I can play a role in retraining all of our …show more content…
I need to do this in all areas of my life. When I am with my family, coworkers, students, and with strangers. Biases move from generation to generation. It is up to me to start changing myself in order to change my children’s generation. The biggest area where I need to step up and say something is in school. Often in the hallways or at lunchtime, I hear certain comments or jokes that students are sharing with one another that is disrespectful towards people of a different races, but mainly towards African Americans. This is the place where I need to intervene and say something; instead of walking by acting like I never heard
In her article, “Lecture Me. Really”, Molly Worthen addresses the issue college students know all too well: how to lecture properly. Published in the New York Times, Worthen writes a passionate article about lecturing but from the perspective of a professor. Worthen presents the idea that lecturing, although some may think ineffective in the classroom, is a way to truly challenge and engage students into critically thinking. Worth dictates this idea with an excellent build up logical argument but lacks the proper evidence to support her claims creating a faulty argument.
Many of the stereotypes we encounter and hold today were formed because of events in the past, which were formed to rationalize and justify past social and political agendas. Many of the stereotypes that we now hold today were learned long ago and have been passed from one generation to the next. This book has forever inspired me to believe in the value of each child and discourage racist attitudes wherever I encounter them. Gregory Howard Williams encountered many hurdles growing up and successfully defeated them all. He could have easily confirmed the expectations of his negative peers and developed into a self-fulfilling prophecy, but instead he chose to shun his stereotypes and triumph over incredible odds.
In relation to the “Implicit association test, which measures unconscious bias,” Myers acknowledges that “Seventy percent of white people taking that test prefer white.” Not only do white people prefer someone of their race, but “Fifty percent of black people taking that test prefer white” as well. Informing us of the results from the IAT (Implicit Association Test) helps showcase that there is a clear bias among us that “we’ve been schooled in.” Myers provides this data in order to further justify that we all play a role in the “prejudices that fuel those kinds of tragic incidents” that happened to the black men mentioned in the previous paragraph. Conversely with a grandiose tone, the diversity advocate explains that the problem isn’t so much that “we see color” its “what we do when we see the color.” Verna Myers bringing this issue to light is effective in the sense that it makes her audience re-evaluate their standpoint within these specific instances. Are their prejudices a part of the problem?” Yes. Verna Myers is well aware that “we are not shooting people down in the street” nonetheless, we still contribute to the issue until we are willing to “look within and being to change
Race has been a difficult topic to discuss and grasp ever since race problems began. Not only is it a sensitive topic that carries a lot of baggage to the name, but it is a continuous problem that we still today, after many years, battle with. “The Code Switch Podcast, Episode 1: Can we talk about Whiteness?” is a podcast with many speakers of different colors that discusses white ignorance and white uncertainty of talking about racial issues.
Attending a predominantly white school, white people were very interested, or rather over interested, in the so-called black culture. Being in a space that had minority black people, oppression was felt on the highest level. Anything that may have remotely involved the black skin, was downplayed and undermined, and more cases than one, my voice was silenced. From this experience, I started realising that wherever I may go, the female black body was not correctly or remotely represented positively in the media and in general society. For many years, as a regular television watcher, I began to realise that the media and entertainment industry did not put black women in power or inspiration, but women who are needy, sexual objects or women who play second best to men. In my educational systems, I have not been exposed to black lectures or teachers enough, and I realised that we were not being correctly and rightfully represented. As a black body, I am aware that I occupy space in a white environment, and that much of what I do is under the scope of white supremacy. Much of the experiences I have at my university are very much related to my racial profiling, and my level of intelligence is marked according to how I look eternally. Daily, I am constantly reminded that I am black as if it is something to be ashamed of social elite environment. In the article written by Dill and Zambara,
This power keeps the behavior of the oppressed well within the set guidelines of the oppressor (Freire, 2000, pg. 47). Critical Race Theory outlines this system of oppression as it relates to white and non-white races. By using the critical race theory coupled with the system of oppression described by Freire (2000), I propose that within the system of oppression, the oppressor must keep its own members in line with the prescribed guidelines by reinforcing the social norms from birth. Freire (2000) suggest that the interest of the oppressors lie in “changing the consciousness of the oppressed not the system” (pg.34). Identifying as white, therefore, starts at birth when members of the white class work to reinforce social norms that began with our founding fathers at Plymouth Rock. This long history of white privilege was taught to me and I continue to teach it to my children. As an educator of white affluent high school students, I believe we provide college and career counseling based on this white privilege system of oppression as well. Here, I journey even closer to unraveling the myth of white privilege as I encounter the intersection of an affluent white student choosing a career after high
Wise, T. (2012). Dear white America: Letter to a new minority. San Francisco, CA: City
concerns racial equality in America. The myth of the “Melting Pot” is a farce within American society, which hinders Americans from facing societal equality issues at hand. Only when America decides to face the truth, that society is not equal, and delve into the reasons why such equality is a dream instead of reality. Will society be able to tackle suc...
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva and Sue both demonstrate from their research that Whites do not comprehend the impact of their unconscious biases. These biases towards students of colour in a white-based post-secondary school environment can result in stress and weak interracial relationships. This is an issue since the significance of these everyday actions is not fully recognized and acknowledged. I will elaborate on a variety of examples, specifically the influence of the peers, and faculty.
Katy Hutchison opened to viewers with two heart felt stories during her Ted Talk. In her opening, she states lots of experiences will happen in life whether it be great or bad. She believes that when it them becomes a time in one’s life where a mess happens then there’s a moral responsibility to clean up the mess no matter the means. In the process, if cleaning the problem one may realize that they’ve been standing next to the person who created the mess. In the moment of realization, you’ll begin to feel the amount of possibility. What I gained from her message was that life has its up and down. While you’re up life is great, and everything goes as for as planned. You look forward to the next day because you know it going to be great. But,
Prior to beginning my readings on white racial identity, I did not pay much attention to my white race. If someone had asked me to describe my appearance I would have said short blond hair, blue eyes, average stature, etc. One of the last things I would have noted was the color of my skin. Growing up in overwhelmingly white communities, I never thought to use the color of my skin to differentiate myself from others. Over the course of this dialogue I have learned that my white racial identity is one of the most defining aspects of my appearance in this society. There is a certain level of privilege that I am afforded based solely on the color of my skin. According to Peggy McIntosh, “White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports, visas, clothes, compass, emergency gear, and blank checks” (71). All these objects listed by McIntosh are things I have access to and certainly take for granted. Due to a history of non-white racial oppression, which transformed into decades of racial discrimination that still lingers today, the white race has dominated our society in terms of resources and prosperity. The ideas of wealth, higher-level education and ambition to succeed are all traits commonly linked to people of the white race that collectively define privilege. The aspect of privilege can also produce disadvantages for people of the white race as well. In the book Promoting Diversity and Justice, the author D. Goodman notes that people of advantage groups develop a sense of superiority, which will sometimes lead them to wonder if, “their achievements were based on privilege or merit” (107). Along with a diminished sense of accomplishment, the cost ...
In today’s society there are many stereotypes surrounding the black community, specifically young black males. Stereotypes are not always blatantly expressed; it tends to happen subconsciously. Being born as a black male puts a target on your back before you can even make an impact on the world. Majority of these negative stereotypes come from the media, which does not always portray black males in the best light. Around the country black males are stereotyped to be violent, mischievous, disrespectful, lazy and more. Black males are seen as a threat to people of different ethnicities whether it is in the business world, interactions with law enforcement or even being in the general public. The misperceptions of black males the make it extremely difficult for us to thrive and live in modern society. Ultimately, giving us an unfair advantage simply due to the color of our skin; something of which we have no control.
... model for how the entertainment and media industries depict black people must change. Despite the progress that blacks have worked toward since the days of slavery, society continues to give in to the monetary benefits of producing self-disparaging entertainment and media. It is not only up to the directors, editors, producers and writers to establish this change, but it should also be the demand of the people, or the consumer. If the images of black people in the media are improved the outlook within the community will improve as well. Not only will positive goals and achievements become more realistic for black people if the media outlets discontinue their practice of equating blacks with aggression, lawlessness and violence, but a greater good will also result for whites, which would be represented by a true autonomy and equality in American society.
In 1995, the Carnegie Corporation commissioned a number of papers to summarize research that could be used to improve race relations in schools and youth organizations. One way to fight against racism is to “start teaching the importance of and strategies for positive intergroup relations when children are young”(Teaching Tolerance,). Bias is learned at an early age, often at home, so schools should offer lessons of tolerance and
Dr. Kenneth B. Clark’s legacy has lived on and will continue to inspire because, even today, in the 21st century, there are many ideas and problems that Clark addresses in the realm of prejudice and racism that are still relevant in social identity, education and the work place in America. Clark was a social psychologist who was a firm believer in equality, though he knew that racial division would be a difficult task to overcome, he still thought it was a concept that was necessary for America to progress. One of the many researchers that have continued Clark’s work is Thomas F. Pettigrew. Pettigrew (2004) suggests that America is not where it needs to in reference to equal opportunity. Pettigrew does acknowledge that there has been many steps forward since the Brown case and Clark’ s doll studies, but believes there has also, been many steps taken backwards in regards to the progress of racial equality and opportunity (Pettigrew, 2004). According to Pettigrew (2004) racial prejudices have come to be much less blatant but still have the same effect on the people exposed to the phenomena. Though racial prejudices are still prevalent, the source of the tension is much more difficulty to identify. As did Clark suggest, Pettigrew (2004) also believes that for change to consistently and proficiently occur, it must h...